This application relates to an amusement device and, more specifically, to a flipper or bumper device used in ball rolling or pinball games to strike a ball and impel it away from the bumper.
In present amusement devices, such as a pinball machine, flipper arms or bumpers are used to deflect the ball away from an out-of-play area and toward a scoring area on the playing field. Such flipper arm units may be actuated by an actuating mechanism and circuit as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,298,691, which allows the flipper arm to be held indefinitely in an extended position to thereby reposition the ball for "flipping" the ball back onto the playing field. The direction of travel of the ball is largely determined by how far the player permits the momentarily released ball to travel down the length of the arm before actuating the flipper arm to the extended position. Thus, by skillful judgment and timing, an experienced player may procure a variety of trajectories of the ball toward various desired scoring targets by such manipulation and positioning of the flipper bar relative to the position of the ball. Such a skillful player could, with sufficient experience in the practice of the game, readily achieve a level of play which would present no challenge to the player in the play of the game.